Ironically, by the time the Angles came to Northern Britain, the Picts had a relatively united kingdom, had mostly been converted to Christianity, and were generally probably a lot more civilised than the barbarian, pagan Angles who'd crossed over from Germania. Yeah, I probably should have went ba...

I have to agree with Strom, who quoted REH exactly. The Picts are a white race, although swarthy (enter your ethnic stereotypes here, Native American, Aboriginal, or otherwise), though the bordermen never thought of them as such (enter your mature understanding that racism is not based on color of s...

Well, looking at your own situation and generalizing is not always the best way to go about ethnographic research. College educated minorities are exposed to other cultures, roommates, and ways of living, which might be more of the impetus than simply being intellectual or educated. There are plenty...

Yeah, and that sounds so weird to me. I got into gaming with TMNT and Other Strangeness, which followed the Heroes Unlimited d20 rules, which I think Palladium put out. I was 10 and had one book. Never needed another with the dozen or so players we had over the years. I started D&D and had one book....

That's a bummer. Yes, a great foe indeed. It reminded me of that "Beep Beep" song where the guy driving his Cadillac gets passed by the Rambler in second gear. I have to say, though, a little more suspense would have been nice. Still, some of Howard's best prose in my opinion. I especially liked the...

A level head. Thank you.

The Cowboys are in Dallas, the Spurs are in San Antonio, the concrete is in Houston, and a world-class university is in Austin. I root for the Detroit Tigers, so I have no idea who "Jerry" is. And, no, I have no idea, nor do I care, who this Fred is who seems to make a living selling the ideas of so...

Well, the map Howard himself "OK'ed" was printed in the Del Ray books, I believe. And, from what I've read, his version was available for quite some time in less popular forms. And, yes, I agree that someone has authority to dictate Conan canon (yeesh, typo waiting to happen!), but I can still side ...

I've read "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula" which I believe is the same thing. It must have been some time ago, but I thought the Howardian appropriation of Hanuman had been called "Haruman" just as Semitic people are so artfully rendered "Shemites" and so on through all the races and deities. For some r...

I see this title in the "Upcoming Publications" of Conan in PDF. Why is Hanuman retaining the actual spelling of a South Asian deity? I realize "Haruman" is hardly a sneaky derivative, but the character of Haruman, a malevolent gorilla-god, is very different from the benevolent, though mischievous, ...

When you own the rights you can make anything canon that you want to. That's a reality I had to come to terms with 4 years ago. I have to totally disagree. Strom is right. If you own some legal rights that were passed along the capitalist byway, then you can decide what is canon "officially." Canon...

The painful truth is that European history just happens to be the most diverse, interesting and well documented. There's no escaping that. I'm not going to be the one to jump on that, but let me say two things: Yes, for Euro-American peoples, the history of Europe and the heroes of Europe cannot he...

Thank you much. I'll definitely try those out! I had almost giving up wading through humanist sci-fi for the nuggets. I still have Snow Crash and Carbon something or other to read (the last recommendations I got). They should be in the mail now.

I haven't read much cyberpunk of the early 1980s beyond Gibson, which I found dull, but Dick's 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' came out in 1968! I started graduate research in Artificial Intelligence a few years ago (too many!) and read all I could find with strong AI characters, through Asimo...

I'd agree with calling Gibson and Scott contemporaries within emerging trends, but I would not say Bladerunner looks anything like Dick's novel. Of course, I read it before seeing the movie, but I had a very different feel. They wore codpieces, walked through streets littered with kibble, lived in b...

I see how that was unclear, but I was only trying to say that the film looks more like Gibson's cyberpunk than it does Dick's cyberdirt; I really wasn't making an argument of derivation. That was my original point, actually: If Shadowrun derives from Gibson, and Gibson (sorta) from Bladerunner, then...

I think he only wants to factor in the strength of the character for reload time, ie a character who is stronger can crank or pull on a powerful crossbow faster than a weaker character.

Well, most of that is taken straight from the Mahabharata, which puts its largely in the realm of legend. The article mentions this, but then begins to recount the lives of the major players as though they were historical figures, even up the lineage of the kings. I consider that the large drawback ...

Kuruksetre is where the great battle in the Mahabharata (and thus the Bhagavad Gita) takes place. In other dilettante Western writings the word "Kuru" seems to be associated with places or fields rather than with the Pandavas (the five brothers who are called "sons of Kuru," "sons of Pandu," "sons o...

I would just make up my own weapon with the exact specs I wanted. There is no problem with that. If there is something missing in the rules, fill it in yourself. You could even call it a Giggle Spear or a Goofy-Ass Spear if you want. Nobody will try to get you in trouble with the Rule Police.